Iranian orientalism: notions of the other in modern Iranian thought

Alsulami, M.S.H. (2014)

Doctoral Thesis

The study addresses and explains the issue of negative descriptions of the Arab Other in modern Iranian thought. It attempts to understand and illustrate what the notion of the Arab means for Iranians and how Arabs are portrayed and by examining how they depicted, It describes why they depicted in modern time in such a way, linking this portrayal to a range of ideologies in modern Iran. In doing this research, the researcher has limited his analysis to a certain body of fiction and non-fiction texts. he has selected writings produced by prominent Iranian authors of a variety of ideological affiliations, including literary works such as short stories, novels, historical stories and works published in academic or semi-academic journals, as well as some works in the field of historiography, all of which were written in Persian by Iranian writers between the 1850s and the 1950s. In a broader sense, the study offers an analytical model for the understanding of the Iranian notions of Self and Other in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It investigates the ethnic and racial attitudes of a number of Iranian writers and thinkers toward Arabs, contributing to an understanding of the way in which the Iranian identity has been shaped in modern times.

• Iran
• Nationalism
• Identity
• Arab-Iranian
• Image
• Otherness
• Orientalism
• Shu'ubiyya

• All authors: Alsulami, M.S.H.
• Supervisor: Sijpesteijn, P.M.
• Co-supervisor: Seyed-Gohrab, A.A.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS), Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University
• Date: 2014-02-05
• Sponsorship: Umm al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia